The Caddie in Winter

Dec 16, 2017

RAY: This puzzler was submitted by Shelly Payne. Here it is:

Several years ago my father-in-law, who lives in Minnesota had trouble with his late model Cadillac DeVille. His battery kept dying every couple of days. He would get it jump started and it would run fine for a few days, but then would die again. So he took it to the dealership. They checked it out. They couldn't find anything wrong.

One morning after there had been several inches of snow he went out and sure enough, what? The battery was dead. So he jump started it and went into town to get a cup of coffee at the local drug store. Now being that he lives in such a small town, he went and parked right in front of the drug store. And while he was drinking his coffee, he complained to the pharmacist about how his car was driving him nuts. The pharmacist asked, "Is that your car right out there?"

And he said, "Why, yes, that is my car." And the pharmacist said, "I know why your battery is dying."

What did the pharmacist notice?

Answer:

RAY: Here's the answer. What the pharmacist noticed was that there was snow on the roof of the car -- he had just started it and driven over there. There was probably even snow on the hood. But, there was no snow on the trunk because the trunk light was staying on; and that bulb, believe it or not, was generating enough heat to keep the snow from accumulating on the trunk.